JPH11188929A - Recorder and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent communication between a recorder and a host from being terminated in ECP mode by dividing the storage area of a buffer means into a plurality of subareas when a data is inputted to at least a plurality of data receiving means simultaneously thereby ensuring the area for storing the receiving data for each data receiving means. SOLUTION: When a receiving data has been latched at an ECP data receiving section 300, a switch section 302 allots a preset buffer size to a butter control section 304 where one receiving buffer 304 is divided into two buffers and a data is stored in the divided buffer. Using one of two divided receiving butters, a selected data receiving section stores data sequentially which is eventually taken out and recorded. Consequently, data can not be received in ECP mode and a host computer times out thus eliminating termination of communication between the host computer and the recorder through an interface.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a recording medium for inputting character data from an external device such as a host computer (hereinafter, "host") and recording the data on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a recording apparatus, an 8-bit parallel interface of Centronics, Inc. has been widely used as an interface for print data from a host and control data. However, bidirectional Centronics, which is an interface capable of transmitting information from a peripheral device to the host as well as receiving data from the host, is becoming popular as the IEEE1284 standard. The IEEE 1284 has several modes, one of which is the ECP mode. In this mode,
8-bit parallel data can be transmitted and received at high speed in both directions.

[0003] Further, in data reception from the host, it is specified that data is received within a time specified in a handshake, and the host can terminate if a READY signal is not transmitted within a specified time.
That is, even if any event occurs on the recording device side as in the conventional Centronics interface (here, compatible mode), the BUSY state cannot be set. Even if the recording device is equipped with a plurality of interfaces, one interface accepts data, and the other interface is in a BUSY state,
If data is sent from the host before BUSY, the recording device cannot receive the data, and communication with the host is timed out and terminated in the interface in the ECP mode.

In the ECP mode, when data is transmitted from the recording device to the host, a reverse request signal is transmitted from the recording device to the host, so that the status of the recording device can be notified to the host. However, if data has already been sent from the host, even if a reverse request signal is subsequently sent from the recording device to the host, the host has already prepared the send data, and after sending the reverse request, Also, the recording device must be able to receive data from the host.

However, in such a case, the recording apparatus side can receive one byte for data reception from a plurality of interfaces at the same time, but cannot receive subsequent data, and as a result, the host switches to the ECP mode interface. There is a problem of terminating the communication with the recording device via the PC.

[0006]

The above prior art has the following drawbacks. That is, when data is simultaneously sent from the host and the external device to the recording device, the ECP
If the data reception in the mode is received later than the other interfaces, the recording device cannot receive the next data. In this case, the host monitors the timeout, exits from the ECP mode, and forcibly terminates. BUS to the host on the recording device side
A reverse request signal is sent to send a status to signal Y, but the host does not stop sending data immediately and tries to send data.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems To solve the above problems, the present invention comprises the following constitutions.

That is, a recording apparatus for receiving character data and image data as image data from an external device such as a host computer and printing the image data includes at least two data receiving means for receiving the image data from the host computer. A switch for deciding which data receiving unit gives priority to the received data; a buffer control unit for securing an area for storing the received image data and storing the received data; Buffer means for storing shared reception data for one data reception means,
The buffer control unit divides a storage area of the buffer unit into two when data is simultaneously input to the at least two data reception units, and secures an area for storing each received data. .

When data is simultaneously input to the at least two data receiving means, the switch means switches the data receiving means based on a preset priority.

[0010] Further, the priority order is at least two.
It is determined based on the context in which the received data is latched by the two data receiving means.

In addition, during the data storage processing from the one data receiving means selected by the switch means, the other receiving means is notified to the host computer as a BUSY state, and upon completion of the storing processing, Based on this, the other receiving means is set to the READY state to enable data reception from the host computer.

Further, the buffer control means variably divides the reception buffer area according to a capacity of the reception data.

[0013] One of the at least two data receiving means may be an IEEE1284 standard BiCenn.
This is a parallel interface based on toronics, and transmits and receives data to and from the host computer using the ECP mode of the IEEE1284 standard.

Further, another one of the data receiving means is provided.
One is an RS422 standard serial interface.

[0015] Further, when receiving data in the ECP mode of IEEE1284 standard, which is one of the at least two data receiving means, the other receiving means is selected by the switch means, And EC
When data is received from the interface in the P mode, a reverse request request is transmitted to the host computer.

Further, the buffer control unit sets the buffer full amount of the buffer means while leaving a preset buffer size.

When data is received in the ECP mode of the IEEE1284 standard, and data is received in the ECP mode and the buffer becomes full, a reverse request request is transmitted to the host computer.

Also, at least two data receiving means for receiving the image data from the host computer, a switch means for determining which data receiving means has priority on the received data, and A buffer control means for securing an area for storing image data and storing the received data, and a buffer means for storing shared received data for the at least two data receiving means, The buffer control means divides the storage area of the buffer means into two when data is input to the at least two data receiving means at the same time, and reserves an area for storing each received data to the computer. A computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing the program to function is recorded is provided. .

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is an electric block diagram of a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, 100 is a host computer connected to the recording apparatus, 102 is a CPU for executing and managing operations and processing in the recording apparatus, and 103 is a CPU.
Reference numeral 102 denotes a ROM for storing various data such as a control program and character fonts. Reference numeral 104 denotes a RAM for temporarily storing various data. A reception buffer for storing data received from the host is provided in the RAM.

An interface unit 101 controls bidirectional Centronics protocol communication with an external device such as a host computer in accordance with the IEEE1284 standard, and an interface unit that controls communication of a plurality of interfaces such as different interfaces, for example, a serial interface. . This interface unit will be described later. Reference numeral 108 denotes a display unit that displays a setting state, an operation mode, and an error message of the recording apparatus.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a HEAD driving unit for supplying a control signal from the CPU 102 to a head driver so that the recording apparatus records an image on a recording medium, and transferring and printing image data to a recording head.

The carriage motor driver and the CR drive unit 107 of the carriage motor, and the paper feed motor driver and the LF drive unit 106 of the paper feed motor supply control signals from the CPU 102 to the respective drivers, and are necessary for printing on a recording medium. This is a control system that prompts the horizontal and vertical movement of the recording head.

Next, the control procedure of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. First, the data input by the interface unit 101 is temporarily stored in the RAM 104, and based on the storage, the program stored in the ROM 103 is a CP.
The command, image data, and character code are analyzed by U102.

In the case of a character code, font data stored in advance is read from the ROM 103 and sequentially stored in the RAM 104. When the development of one line is completed or when a print command is input from the host computer of the external device, the CR drive unit 107 is driven, the print data is transferred from the RAM 104 to the HEAD drive unit 105, and printing is performed. You. After printing, the LF drive unit 106 is driven, and a series of sequences is completed.

Next, the details of the interface unit 101 will be described with reference to FIG.

The interface unit 101 includes two data receiving units. 300 is IEEE1284 standard E
ECP data receiving unit for receiving data in CP mode, 3
A second data receiving unit 01 is a serial data receiving unit that receives serial data.

Reference numeral 302 denotes a switch unit for determining which of the two different data receiving units has priority on data reception.

FIG. 1 shows a part of a data reception timing standard in the ECP mode of IEEE1284 bidirectional Centronics. When receiving data, the HostClk signal and P
This is performed by a handshake of the eriphAck signal.
Tr, Th, and Tl are time regulations at each timing. Thus, the ACK signal is 3 on the recording device side.
It must respond within 5 ms. When a certain event occurs in the recording device and the status is notified to the host, the reverse request signal is set to Active. This reverse request signal is a signal that can be controlled only during forward transfer, that is, during data transmission from the host computer to the recording device. There is no particular timing specification for forward transfer. However, even if this signal is a request signal, the host has the final right to determine the transfer direction, so that the recording apparatus must be able to receive data from the host even if it issues this request signal.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, when the host has at least two interfaces, one of which has an interface in the IEEE standard 1284 ECP mode, and at the same time the data reception conflicts with another interface, the host transmits data. In this case, the reception buffer is divided into two so that the reception buffer can receive the data from the host at least. Similarly, when the buffer is full, the buffer is configured to be able to receive the data size already sent from the host. The buffer control unit 303 determines whether to divide the area size of the reception buffer from the attribute of the received data and the data amount,
Control for designating the area size is also performed. 304
Is a reception buffer for storing reception data.

Usually, two data receiving units (300, 30)
1) is a READY state for each connected host computer. Here, when data is received from the two data receiving units, the ECP data receiving unit 30
0, the data received by each of the serial data receiving units 301 are latched. Actually, in the rare case where latches are performed at exactly the same time, one of them is latched earlier. When latches are performed at exactly the same time, control is performed by the switch unit 302 in accordance with a preset priority. The switch section 302 is E
PC data receiving unit 300, serial data receiving unit 301
The received data latched earlier by the buffer controller 303
, And is stored in the reception buffer 304. Then I
If EEE1284 is not selected, a reverse request request is notified to the host computer. If data has already been transmitted from the host computer, that is, if the received data has been latched in the ECP data receiving unit 300, the switch unit 302 assigns a preset buffer size to the buffer control unit 304, and 304 is divided into two, and data is stored in the divided reception buffers. Only the data is stored in the divided reception buffer, and the processing in the recording device is not performed. If the host computer is transmitting in the ECP mode, the data can be transmitted as it is even if a reverse request is received from the recording device. For this reason, the recording device has a buffer structure that can receive the data until the host computer receives the reverse request and stops data transmission. The selected data receiving unit sequentially stores data using one of the two divided buffers, and the stored data is sequentially retrieved and recorded.

After the transmission from the selected interface is completed and the reception buffer becomes empty, the other interface is set to READY to enable data reception. The divided reception buffer is released from division and returned to one reception buffer. At this time, the head of the received data already stored is set as the read head of the united reception buffer. Data is taken out from the head of the newly set receiving buffer and sequentially processed.

<Effects of the Embodiment> As described above, even if data is received simultaneously in a recording apparatus having at least two interfaces, the data is received and stored by dividing the reception buffer only at this time. It is possible to do. Therefore, in the ECP mode, the reception cannot be performed, the host computer times out, and the communication between the host computer and the recording device is terminated.

[0034]

[Other Embodiments] Even if the present invention is applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), an apparatus (for example, a copying machine) Machine, facsimile machine, etc.).

An object of the present invention is to provide a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and a computer (or CPU) of the system or apparatus.
And MPU) read and execute the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

When the present invention is applied to the storage medium, the storage medium stores program codes corresponding to the above-described flowcharts. Each module shown will be stored in a storage medium. That is, at least “switch module 401”, “buffer control module 402” and “ECP data reception module 40”
3) The program code of each module of the “serial data receiving module 404” may be stored in the storage medium.

[0041]

The recording apparatus which receives character data and image data as image data from an external device such as a host computer and prints the image data can receive image data from the host computer by at least two data receiving means.

Which of the data receiving means has priority on the received data is determined by the switch means. For the received image data, an area for storing, which is a buffer means, is secured by the buffer control means. The storage area is shared by at least two receiving means, and when data reception conflicts, the buffer control means divides the shared storage area and secures an area for storing each received data. I do.

Therefore, in a recording apparatus having at least two interfaces, even when data is received at the same time, it is possible to receive and store both data by dividing the reception buffer only at this time. Therefore, E
In the CP mode, the reception cannot be performed, the host computer times out, and the termination of communication between the host computer and the recording device is eliminated.

[0044]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing data reception timing in an ECP mode.

FIG. 2 is an electric block diagram illustrating a configuration of a recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an interface control unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a memory map of a recording medium in the embodiment according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Host computer 101 Interface control unit 102 CPU 105 HEAD drive unit 106 LF drive unit 107 CR drive unit 108 Display unit 300 ECP data reception unit 301 Serial data reception unit 302 Switch unit 303 Buffer control unit

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A recording device for receiving character data and image data as image data from an external device such as a host computer and printing the image data, wherein at least two data for receiving the image data from the host computer are provided. Receiving means, switch means for determining which data receiving means of the received data should be prioritized, and securing an area for storing the received image data,
Buffer control means for storing the received data; and buffer means for storing received data that is shared with respect to the at least two data receiving means, wherein the buffer control means simultaneously operates the at least two data sets. A recording apparatus wherein, when data is input to a receiving means, a storage area of the buffer means is divided into two to secure an area for storing each received data. 2. The switch means according to claim 1, wherein
If data is input to two data receiving means at the same time,
2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the data receiving unit is switched based on a priority set in advance. 3. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the priority order is determined based on a context of reception data latched by the at least two data reception units. 4. During the data storage processing from the one data receiving means selected by the switch means, the other receiving means is notified to the host computer as a BUSY state, and upon completion of the storing processing, 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said other receiving means is set to a READY state to enable data reception from said host computer. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the buffer control unit variably divides the reception buffer area according to a capacity of the reception data. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of said at least two data receiving means is an IEEE1284 standard BiCento.
a parallel interface based on Ronics, which transmits and receives data to and from the host computer through an IE.
2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording is performed using the ECP mode of the EE1284 standard. 7. Another one of the data receiving means,
2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus is a serial interface conforming to the RS422 standard. 8. An IEEE 1284 standard EC which is one of the at least two data receiving means.
In the case of receiving data in the P mode, if the other receiving means is selected by the switch means and data is received from the interface in the ECP mode, a reverse request request is sent to the host computer. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatus transmits. 9. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the buffer control unit sets a buffer full amount of the buffer unit while leaving a preset buffer size. 10. When data is received in the ECP mode of the IEEE1284 standard, and when data is received in the ECP mode and the buffer becomes full, a reverse request request is transmitted to the host computer. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 11. At least two data receiving means for receiving the image data from the host computer, a switch means for determining which data receiving means has priority on the received data, and Secure an area for storing image data,
Buffer control means for storing the received data; and buffer means for storing received data that is shared with respect to the at least two data receiving means, wherein the buffer control means simultaneously operates the at least two data sets. When data is input to the receiving means, the storage area of the buffer means is divided into two parts, and a computer readable program recording a program for causing a computer to secure an area for storing each received data is recorded. Recording medium.